Discussions from a graduating Master's student on items including life in the Upper Midwest, the dismal science, and brilliant beverages.

Tuesday, October 4, 2016

Walker jobs gaps back over 100,000 as WMC says "our agenda works!"

State Senator Kathleen Vinehout's most recent blog post noted that some reporter tried to call her up to claim that because Wisconsin has cut taxes and regulations and added jobs in the Age of Fitzwalkerstan, then Scott Walker's policies must be successful, right? Sen. Vinehout told the hack "Not exactly," and that Wisconsin's growth is really more "Thanks Obama!" and "Thanks Doyle!" and "Thanks Tommy!"

The Governor’s approach to cutting taxes has not worked to create jobs. Wisconsin lagged the national economy in recovering from the 2008-09 recession. Our state took six years to gain back all the jobs lost in the Great Recession – a whole year after the nation recovered and two years after Minnesota recovered.

The numbers indicate that Wisconsin’s economy has done little on its own and can only boast of being the beneficiary of spillover effects from the national economic recovery.

In recent months, Governor Walker took credit for things that were historically true of Wisconsin. For example, the state unemployment rate is lower than the national unemployment rate. Wisconsin’s unemployment rate has been lower than the national average in 28 of the last 36 years.

The Governor bragged about our labor participation rate. However, Wisconsin’s labor participation rate was higher than the national average for at least 30 years, possibly more.

Taking credit for Wisconsin being better than the nation in those two measures is like taking credit for the sun coming up in the morning. These numbers are little more than a reflection of the historical differences between Wisconsin and the nation.

In fact, things have only gotten worse on the job front in the last few months here, with Wisconsin losing 6,700 private sector jobs since March. This has made the Walker jobs gap with the rest of the country widen a lot more recently, and it's now back up over 100,000 jobs since the Age of Fitzwalkerstan began in January 2011.

In fact, that "low unemployment rate" that the Walker Admin hacks like to point at is really isn't just something they inherited, but it also reflects that the state isn't attracting enough people to keep the economy moving ahead, and because Wisconsin's corporate sector is among the worst in the country, they refuse take the steps that might attract talent. This includes raising wages and supporting political candidates who back an improved quality of life instead of ones who give away millions on tax breaks that don't add to job creation.

But you can bet the crooked corporates at Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce won't mention the self-inflicted wounds to the state's economy that their agenda has caused when they have their "State of Wisconsin Business Luncheon" (with special guest Scott Walker!) in 2 weeks. Given their past record, I wouldn't trust these mediocre white men to run a hot dog stand well, but I'm sure they'll pat themselves on the back after not having to do jail time in the John Doe money-laundering scheme, and claim Wisconsin's economy is just peachy by quoting some bogus study that just happens to come from some other right-wing oligarch group.

1 comment:

I'm really beyond tired of the WMC's grip on the economic discourse in this state, under the pretense of being "Wisconsin's Chamber of Commerce" (even though they function nothing like a real business chamber). What can we do about it, though?

About Me

This cat's a 40-something libation-enjoying gabber still trying to do the right thing. Watch his crazy adventures as he works and stumbles his way through the great world of public service in the Age of Fitzwalkerstan, while keeping tabs on Bucky Badger and the next Great Depression. I'm told I'm big in Oshkosh.